James Nisbet Commentary - Ezekiel 14:14 - 14:14

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James Nisbet Commentary - Ezekiel 14:14 - 14:14


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF RELIGION

‘Though these three men, Aoab, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.’

Eze_14:14

The three men here mentioned were eminent for piety, which they maintained in the midst of prevailing corruption. They were delivered, as individuals, from the ruin by which many were overtaken. But Noah did not save the world from drowning, nor Daniel the Jews from captivity, nor Job his irreligious family from destruction. And we are here reminded that God’s rule is righteous, that He deals with individuals, and that He will not impute the merits of the virtuous to the sinful.

I. Privileges are personal.—If the just Ruler of all judges His subjects according to the opportunities and advantages accorded them, the same principle will have many and various applications. The servant who knows his Lord’s will and does it not will be beaten with many stripes. Those who enjoy the advantages of a Christian country, of the Christian Church, must not shelter themselves behind great and honoured names of their own land or age. The privileges are theirs individually; and the responsibility is theirs likewise.

II. Faith and piety are personal.—There is a natural tendency in men to think of their associations and their associates in estimating their religious position. But such a proceeding is unjust. The principle of Christianity is personal, is experienced by the individual. However much we owe to others, we cannot put others forward as our substitutes. They ‘only shall be delivered themselves.’ It is for every man to cultivate the nature with which he has been endowed, and to fulfil the responsibilities which have been laid upon him.

III. Judgment is personal.—It is so in this life, to a large extent, though not altogether. But in the final account to be rendered, each shall stand alone. Every one must take his station at the tribunal of infinite justice. Every man shall bear his own burden. And then shall every man—i.e. every faithful Christian, have praise of God.

Illustration

‘The repeated classification of Daniel with Noah and Job is very remarkable. He was still comparatively young, perhaps between twenty and thirty years of age. But such was the sanctity of his life, and the noted power of his prayer, that he is classed with two of the greatest names of Scripture. Each of these three men by intercessory prayer had warded off peril from those who were closely allied to them; but even their prayer could not avail to deliver their people from imminent destruction.’